System and method for expediting the delivery of food orders to customers

ABSTRACT

Automated food delivery methods and systems using computer-managed delivery to an array of food delivery enclosures and computer-enabled customer access to the food delivered to the enclosures. Customers using the methods and systems may utilize their personal communication device such as a cell phone or tablet to order food and subsequently open an enclosure containing their food order.

CROSS REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Non-Provisional applicationSer. No. 17/308,844, filed May 5, 2021, which claims the benefit under35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/101,627, filedMay 7, 2020, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/205,483, filed Dec.15, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein as iffully set forth herein.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the delivery of food orders tocustomers using an array of enclosures in which food orders are placedby a supplier and from which food orders are retrieved by customers.

TRADEMARK AND COPYRIGHT RESERVATION

A portion of the disclosure contains material which is subject totrademark and copyright protection. The trademark and copyright owner(s)has (have) no objection to reproduction of the disclosure in the form inwhich it appears in the files of the US Patent & Trademark Office, butotherwise all rights are reserved. Copyright ©2019 Automat Kitchen, LLC.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,568,618 and 8,261,980, which are incorporated herein byreference, describe a system and method for delivering food to customersusing an array of enclosures. Each of the enclosures includes a foodsupply opening through which food is placed in the enclosure and a fooddelivery opening through which food is delivered to the customer after adoor which covers the delivery opening is unlocked and opened by thecustomer. A similar system and method are described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/247,511 filed Aug. 25, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No.10,482,525.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The patent claims summarize many of the important aspects of theinvention, and these and other important aspects are described in thefollowing specification as well as the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description of the preferred embodiments and variousimportant aspects of the invention will be better understood withreference to the following drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a food ordering and delivery system employing anarray of food enclosures to deliver food to customers and FIG. 1Aillustrates a kiosk for ordering food.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a restaurant employing the food ordering anddelivery system illustrated in FIG. 1 and a plurality of the kiosksillustrated in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of the food ordering and deliverysystem illustrated in FIGS. 1, 1A and 2 .

FIG. 3A is a flow chart for the system shown in FIG. 3 ;

FIG. 4A is a frontal perspective view of one of the enclosures in thearray shown in FIG. 1 in a closed condition.

FIG. 4B is a rear perspective view of the enclosure shown in FIG. 4Ashown from the back of the enclosure which has been opened in the rearto permit food to be supplied to the enclosure.

FIG. 4C is a frontal perspective view of the enclosure of FIG. 4A in apartially open position.

FIG. 4D is a frontal perspective view of the enclosure of FIG. 4A whichis fully open in the front to permit food to be delivered or retrievedfrom the enclosure to or by a customer.

FIG. 5A is a frontal perspective view of the enclosure of FIG. 4A in theclosed position displaying a promotional image on a screen.

FIG. 5B is a frontal perspective view of the enclosure of FIG. 4Adisplaying an enclosure number and a customer name.

FIG. 6 is a view of a screen at the top of the array shown in FIG. 1 fordisplaying customer orders which are ready for delivery.

FIG. 7 is a view of a screen at the top of the array shown in FIG. 1 fordisplaying customer orders which are in the process of being prepared.

FIG. 8A is a view of screens on two adjacent enclosures in the arrayshown in FIG. 1 including the screen shown in FIG. 5B.

FIG. 8B is a view of the two adjacent screens of FIG. 8A after customerinteraction with the screens shown in FIG. 8A.

FIG. 8C is a view of the two adjacent screens of FIG. 8B after customerinteraction with the screen shown in FIG. 8B.

FIG. 8D is a view of the screen shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B after thecustomer has removed his/her order from the enclosure.

FIG. 9 is a view of a screen on an order preparation monitor in a foodsupply area behind the array of enclosures showing a queue of orders tobe prepared.

FIG. 10 is a view of a screen on an order control monitor in the foodsupply area behind the array of enclosures to enable the assignment anddelivery of different food orders to the enclosures in the array.

FIG. 10A is a view of a pop-up on the screen of FIG. 10 which confirmsthe delivery of an order to specific enclosures.

FIG. 10B is a view of another pop-up on the screen of FIG. 10 whichconfirms the status of an order in a particular enclosure.

FIG. 11 is a diagram of an algorithm for generating, sequencing andpreparing customer orders.

FIG. 12 is a diagram of an algorithm for assigning and supplyingcustomer orders to various enclosures in the array.

FIG. 13 is a diagram of an algorithm for delivering a food order from anenclosure in the array.

FIG. 14 is a chart depicting an algorithm for and the various steps in amethod by which a customer orders food to be delivered to an enclosureby using a computer, tablet, smart phone or other portable personaldevice.

FIG. 15A illustrates four sequentially presented images on the screen ofan enclosure receiving a food order which the customer can retrieveusing their portable personal device without touching the enclosuresurfaces.

FIG. 15B is a view of four sequentially presented images presented onthe customer's portable personal device for opening the enclosure behindthe screen shown in FIG. 15A without touching the screen or any otherenclosure surface.

FIG. 16 is a chart depicting an algorithm for and the various steps in amethod by which a customer orders food to be delivered to an enclosureby using a kiosk in the restaurant.

FIG. 17 is a view of four sequentially presented screens for opening anenclosure using the touch screen of the enclosure.

FIG. 18A illustrates an alternative configuration for the display on thescreen of the order control monitor in the food supply area showing noorders in the order queue and all 20 of the enclosures available.

FIG. 18B illustrates a display on the screen of the order controlmonitor at a later point in time showing 6 orders in the order queue andall 20 enclosures still available.

FIG. 18C illustrates the display of FIG. 18A at a slightly later pointin time than that illustrated in FIG. 18B showing 1 of the 6 orders inthe queue being loaded in 2 of the 20 available boxes.

FIG. 18D illustrates the display of FIG. 18A at a point in time whenthere are 4 orders in the queue, 5 enclosures holding orders and 1enclosure disabled.

FIG. 18E illustrates the display of FIG. 18A at a later point in timeafter 1 order has been loaded into 2 adjacent boxes leaving 18 availableenclosures for the 1 order in the queue.

FIG. 18F illustrates the display of FIG. 18A with 6 orders in the queueand 9 enclosures available with 11 enclosures unavailable for variousreasons.

FIG. 19 illustrates a display on a monitor advising customers of thestatus of orders received but not yet in the order queue.

FIG. 20 illustrates a display on a monitor advising customers of orderswhich have been prepared and placed in enclosures.

FIG. 21 illustrates the display on the monitor shown in FIG. 20 advisingcustomers of orders using all 20 enclosures.

FIG. 22 illustrates a display on the monitor advising customers oforders prepared and placed in the enclosures which also alerts a singlecustomer for a brief period of time that their order has just beenplaced in an enclosure.

FIG. 23 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps in an algorithm forgenerating the various displays on the order control monitor as shown inFIGS. 18A-F.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In FIG. 1 , a food ordering and delivery system embodying the inventiondisclosed including food ordering kiosks 12 and a wall 14 incorporatingan array 16 of food enclosures or boxes 18. Each of the enclosures 18includes a touch screen door 19 which will automatically open as will bedescribed in greater detail with respect FIGS. 4A-D so as to permit foodto be delivered to a customer 20 standing in front of the array 16. Thewall 14 includes promotional/informational screens 22 and 24 located atthe top of the wall 14 above the enclosures 18. In addition, the wall 14includes a customer order “READY” monitor 26 for displaying a customername and enclosure number from which a food order can be delivered tothe customer as will be described in greater detail with reference toFIG. 6 . The wall 14 also includes a customer order status or “INPROCESS” screen 28 for displaying the status of a customer order as willbe described in further detail with reference to FIG. 7 . The kiosks 12include a touch screen 30 as shown in FIG. 1A for ordering specificitems which appear on the touch screen 30 as well as a slot 32 forreceiving a credit or debit card for charging the cost of the food orderas also shown in FIG. 1A.

The food ordering and delivery system shown FIGS. 1 and 1A isincorporated into a food service facility such as a restaurant as shownin FIG. 2 wherein the wall 14 separates a customer accessible area 34including a seating area 36 with tables and chairs 38 as well as thekiosks 12 and a food preparation and supply area 38 which includeskitchen equipment 40, counters 42 and storage areas 44. In accordancewith one important aspect of the preferred embodiments, the foodpreparation area 38 includes one or more preparation monitors 46visually and physically accessible to kitchen personnel who prepare foodorders. These monitors 46 display all customer orders as will bedescribed in greater detail with reference to FIG. 9 . In furtheraccordance with this important aspect, the food preparation area 38 alsoincludes at least one kitchen expediter or control monitor 48 visuallyand physically accessible to kitchen order expediters directing andsupplying prepared orders to available enclosures in the array 16 aswill be described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 10 .

As shown in FIG. 3 , the wall 14 and the kiosks 12 are under the controlof a computer system comprising digital processing hardware and adigital memory for storing software including programmed instructions.The digital processing hardware includes a master computer or “WallComputer” 44 and an ordering and billing computer or “Order Computer”45, and the digital memory includes a data storage unit 47 in hardwired(as shown) or wireless communication with the master computer 44 and theordering and billing computer 45. The ordering and billing computer 45which may be on-site as shown or off-site is hardwired or in wirelesscommunication with a server (not shown) hosting a website of therestaurant and/or a restaurant APP which customers may access usingvarious portable, personal devices such as cell phones, tablets and laptops. The ordering and billing computer 45 is also in communication withthe personal devices of customers who are on-line with the restaurantwebsite or the downloaded restaurant APP which facilitates the orderingof food. The point of sale (POS) functions provided by the ordering andbilling computer 46 are commercially available using APIs such as thoseprovided by Toast, Inc. and Panasonic. After a customer has entered andpaid for his or her order at a kiosk or on a personal device using therestaurant APP or website, the customer will receive a customer specificcode, preferably an at least three-digit numerical code, which willallow them to open one or more food enclosures 18 as will be describedbelow.

FIG. 3 also depicts the various screens on the wall 12 including touchscreens incorporated into each of food delivery doors 19 on theenclosures 18 which are coupled to and under the direct control of themaster computer 44 or indirect control of the master computer if anindividual microprocessor is provided for each touch screen doors 19.The customer order alert or READY ORDER screen 26 as well as thecustomer order status or IN PROCESS screen 28 are also coupled to andunder the direct or indirect control of the master computer 44 dependingon whether or not individual microprocessors are provided for thesescreens. In the same manner, the promotional/informational screens 22and 24 are coupled to and directly or indirectly controlled by themaster computer 44.

FIG. 3 also depicts the nature of the displays on the various touchscreens in the doors 19 of the enclosures 18. When an enclosure does notcontain a food order, a promotional and/or decorative display such asthat shown in FIG. 5A will appear on the touch screen door of theenclosure. As shown in FIG. 5A, the display is static but it may also bedynamic; i.e., a video. When an enclosure does contain a food order, thenumber of the enclosure 18 and name of the customer appears on the touchscreen door 19 as also shown in FIG. 5B. In accordance with oneimportant aspect, an order may require and therefore be placed in aplurality of adjacent enclosures. Under these circumstances, peripheralportions 62 of the screens on two adjacent enclosures are highlighted asshown in FIG. 3 and FIGS. 8 (A-D).

The flow chart of FIG. 3A describes the various steps of customerordering process and the delivery of food orders using the system ofFIG. 3 . The customer initially decides in Step 120 whether to go to therestaurant or other food service facility to order (Step 122) or to usea web site or App of the restaurant or food service facility forordering (Step 120). If the customer goes to the restaurant or foodservice facility to order, the customer will order at one of the kiosks12 and use the kiosk touch screen 30 to provide the necessary orderinformation (Step 124). If the customer uses the web site or App toorder, the order is remotely entered (Step 126). Once the order isentered regardless of the location of entry, the order is transmitted tothe food preparation area 38 under the control of the order and billingcomputer 45 for preparation and deliver to a box 18 (Step 130). When theorder is ready, a kitchen expediter assigns a box(es) 18 for receivingthe delivery to the customer and the customer is notified that theirorder is ready by sending a message to the customer's personal device(Step 132). The customer's food order is then placed in a box 18 wherethe customer may collect it after entering an assigned code whereuponthe door 19 of the box 18 opens (Step 134). After the customer collectsthe food order, the door 19 of the box 18 automatically closes (Step136).

In FIG. 4A, a single enclosure 18 of the wall 14 is shown in the closedcondition with the touch screen door 19 closing the food deliveryopening at the front of the enclosure 18; i.e., on the side facing thecustomer accessible area 34 as shown in FIG. 2 . The touch screen door19 and sides 64 form the enclosure along with a hinged door 66 on thefood preparation side 38 which is shown in the open position in FIG. 4Bbut can be closed and maintained in the closed position by magneticcatches 68. When the hinged door 66 is in the open position as shownFIG. 4B, a food order may be supplied through an opening 72 before beingclosed prior to initiating the opening of the touch screen door 19 asshown in FIG. 4C and before the touch screen door 19 is fully raised upand retracted like a garage door into the enclosure 18 as shown in FIG.4D by a motor driven retraction mechanism. When the touch screen door 19is in the closed position before a food order 70 has been delivered tothe enclosure through a food supply opening 72 at the rear of theenclosure 18, the touch screen door 19 displays a promotional and/ordecorative image or video as shown in FIG. 5A. After the food order hasbeen supplied to the enclosure 18, the number of the enclosure 18 andthe name of the customer for the order is displayed on the touch screendoor 19 as shown in FIG. 5B; i.e., “#2 John H”. However, as shown inFIGS. 3 and 8A, the “John H.” order, because of its size has necessarilybeen delivered to two enclosures; i.e., “#2” and “#3” and peripheralportions 62 of the touch screen doors 19 on those enclosures areilluminated to assure that the customer “John H.” understands that hisorder is contained in two adjacent enclosures 18. When a customer suchas “John H.” is ready to open enclosures “#2” and “#3”, he taps on thetouch screen door 18 as shown in FIG. 8A and new display appears on thetouch screen 19 of enclosure “#2” as shown in FIG. 8B.

In accordance with one important aspect of the invention, the touchingof the touch screen in FIG. 8A enables the display shown in FIG. 8Bwhich represents a key pad 74 for entering an assigned code and threewindows 76 for displaying the code entered using the key pad 74. Asshown, only the code numbers “2” and “3” have been entered and aredisplayed in the first and second window. The customer will havereceived the assigned code which may be displayed on the touch screen 30of a kiosk 12 or printed at the kiosk 12. If the customer used his ownpersonal device to make his/her order by using an application downloadedto his device or accessing the restaurant website, he may receive hisassigned code by a text or e-mail delivered to that device or by othermeans enabled by using the restaurant APP or website.

In accordance with another important aspect, entry of the code using thekey pad will produce another new display on the touch screen 19 as shownin FIG. 8C if the code which the customer entered was incorrect. Bytapping on a button indicting that the customer can try “again”, thedisplay of key pad 74 as shown in FIG. 8B will be presented again. Ifthe customer decides to abandon his efforts, he can tap on a “cancel”button.

If the customer enters the correct code using the key pad 74, the touchscreen door 19 will open. In accordance with another important aspect,the touch screen door 19 will remain open a predetermined period of timeso as to allow the customer to remove his food order from the enclosure18. After the predetermined period expires and the touch screen door 19has closed as shown in FIG. 8D, the touch screen door will present a newdisplay asking the customer whether he is “all done” which provides himwith an opportunity to confirm by tapping on an “all done” button. If heis not done, he can so indicate by tapping on an “open again” button andthe door 18 will again open for the predetermined period time.Preferably, the predetermined period of time is more than 15 and lessthan 60 seconds with approximately 30 seconds considered most preferredso as to provide sufficient time for the customer to remove the orderbut also return the enclosure to an available status as soon as possibleto efficiently handle any order backlog created by other customers.

The display on the screen of the kitchen order preparation monitors 46as shown in FIG. 9 includes customer names and the items in the orderwhich need to be prepared. The orders are presented from top to bottomof the screen in the sequence that orders are to be prepared; i.e.,those higher on the screen are prepared sooner. In accordance withanother important aspect, the monitors 46 not only advise the kitchenpersonnel what to prepare in order to fulfill orders, the monitors 46under the control of the billing and ordering computer 46 creates aqueue of orders to be prepared based on the chronological receipt oforders from the kiosks 12, or for orders placed on personal devices, thespecified pick-up time less a predetermined period of order preparationtime. In other words, if a customer specifies a pick-up time of 1:30 PMon his or her personal devices, the order is placed in the queue as ifit had been ordered at a kiosk 12 at 1:25 PM assuming that thepredetermined period for the order preparation time is 5 minutes.

The display on the screen of the kitchen expediter monitor 48 includesrepresentations 78 of each of the enclosures 18 in the array 16 as shownin FIGS. 1 and 3 and representations of orders 80; e.g., orders from“John H.” and “Bob J”. Order expediters in the kitchen area are able todrag the representation of an order 80 to a representation 78 of one ormore enclosures. For example, the representation 80 of the order of“John H.” can be dragged to representations 78 of enclosures #2 and #3.The expediter may then open the hinged door 66 on enclosures #2 and #3and place the “John H.” order in those enclosures. By tapping orclicking on the representation of enclosure #2 on the screen of theexpediter monitor once, a pop-up display as shown FIG. 10A appearsshowing the enclosures involved in his order. The expediter can thenconfirm that the order has been delivered to the enclosures specified inthe pop-up by tapping or clicking on the “OK” button or cancel bytapping on the “CANCEL” button. The expediter can then tap or click onthe representation 78 twice to signify that the order is complete andthen tap or click on the “ANNOUNCE” button and the customer's name andenclosure number will appear on the screen of the order ready monitor26.

In accordance with another important aspect, the expediter is alerted tothe status of each of the enclosures through the use of color coding tosignify the availability of each enclosure 18 in the array. For example,the representation 78 of the enclosure may be colored blue if thecorresponding enclosure is available for a new delivery. Therepresentation 78 may be colored green if an order has recently beenplaced in the corresponding enclosure. The representation 78 may becolored yellow if the touch screen door of the corresponding enclosurehas been opened and closed after the timing out of the predeterminedtime for automatic closing (e.g., 30 seconds). The representation 78 mayalso be colored red if a prolonged period of time has passed since anorder was placed in the corresponding enclosure. The expediter can alsotap or click once on any representation and a pop-up display will appearas shown in FIG. 10B. The pop-up will not only identify the customer andorder code but will also display how long the order has been in thecorresponding enclosure expressed in minutes and seconds. If theexpediter determines that an order should not be supplied to anyenclosure or be removed from any enclosure because of the length of timethat an order has been in the enclosure, he may physically remove theorder from the enclosure and also drag the order out of thecorresponding representation 78.

The specific steps of an algorithm used by the orders computer 45 forperforming Steps 120 through 130 of the flow chart of FIG. 3A for theorders computer 45 are shown and described in FIG. 11 . Morespecifically, Steps 140, 142, 144 and 146 (kiosk ordering), Steps 148,150, 152, 154 and 156 (remote device ordering), and Steps 158, 160 and162 (order preparation information) as described in FIG. 11 are allperformed by and under the control of the orders computer 45.

The specific steps of an algorithm for performing Step 132 of the flowchart of FIG. 3A are shown and described in FIG. 12 . More specifically,Steps 168, 170, 172, 174, 176 and 178, as described in FIG. 12 , allrelate to displays on and used of the expediter monitor 48 as enabledand controlled by the wall computer 44. Steps 164 and 166 are performedby and under the control of the orders computer 45.

The specific steps of an algorithm used by the wall computer 44 forperforming Steps 134 and 136 of the flow chart of FIG. 3A and providingthe functionality described with respect to FIGS. 8 (A-D), 9, 10, !0Aand 10B are shown and described in FIG. 13 . More specifically, Steps180, 182, 184, 186, 188, 190, 192, 194, 196 and 198 all related to thedisplays and interaction of the customer with the displays on a touchscreen 19 of a door 18 of a box 14 before the door 18 opens. Steps 200,202, 204, 206, 208 and 210 all relate to the displays on the door screen19 after the door 18 opens.

As described above, the customers touch the touch screen doors 19 toenter the customer specific codes to open the doors on the enclosures toaccess their orders. The customers may subsequently need to touch thedoors 19 if they enter incorrect codes or need to open the doors again.This touching potentially exposes the customers to germs includingextremely contagious viruses. Although the customers can use theirpersonal devices to order their food and avoid the use and touching ofthe touch screens 30 on the kiosks 12, images on the touch screen doors19 as shown in FIGS. 8 (A-D) may be transmitted over the Internet fromthe Wall Computer 50 to the website server 58 and the server for theDevice APPs 60 as shown in FIG. 3 so as to allow the customers tointeract with the displays of FIGS. 8 (A-D) on their personal deviceswithout ever touching the touch screen doors 19. Another embodiment ofthe invention in which personal devices may be used to order food andopen the doors 19 on the enclosures in a touchless manner will now bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15A&B.

As described in FIG. 14 , a customer orders using their personal devicewithout using or touching any of the kiosks 12. In Step 1, the customeraccesses the restaurant website using the browser of their personaldevice to obtain restaurant information including the menu. In thealternative, the customer can access the information available on thewebsite by using an APP stored on their personal device. By touching an“Order Button”, the customer is placed in communication with the orderand billing computer 46 which may be on-site at the restaurant as shownin FIG. 3 or off-site and provided by a third-party point-of-sale (POS)service entity such as Toast using the WEB. With this communication, thecustomer is able to perform Step 2 including the review and selection ofmenu items which are displayed as one or more images on the screen ofthe personal device. This is followed by Step 3 wherein the customerpays for the order, specifies a pick-up time and identifies a contacte-mail address and telephone number. In Step 4, the POS entity thenprovides an order confirmation by e-mail. Using SMS, the restaurantprovides the customer with advisories indicating that their order is “inprogress” in Step 5 and that the order is “almost ready” in Step 6. InStep 7, the customer is provided with an SMS text providing a customerspecific, pick-up code and a customer-specific URL to be used for atouchless pick-up. Although a customer order number provided by the POSsystem could be used as the pick-up code, the pick-up code is preferablyrandomly generated in this embodiment.

When the customer is ready to pick-up their order, they will bepresented with a series of displays on the touch screen door 19 of theenclosure receiving their order as shown in FIG. 15A. Display 80 appearson the screen before the customer's order is placed in the enclosure 18behind the touch screen. After the order for a particular customer(e.g., “Claire”) has been placed in the enclosure number “16”, thedisplay 82 appears on the touch screen door 19 so as to advise and/orconfirm that the order of the customer “Claire” has been placed inenclosure number “16”. If the customer “Claire” does not choose to use atouchless opening of the enclosure, she can touch the display 82 andwill then be presented with display 84 confirming her order number “259”and presenting a keypad which she can use to open the door of theenclosure by entering her pick-up code which is randomly generated anddifferent from her order number. If the door will not open after thepick-up code is entered or any other problem or issue arises, “Claire”can touch the word “HELP” on the display 84 and the display 86 willappear. “Claire′ then is presented with various problems/issues whichshe can tap in an effort to provide a solution to “Claire's”problems/issues.

If a customer such as “Claire” confirms that she wants to open the doorof the enclosure 16 in a touchless manner using the customer-specificURL received by e-mail, the displays of FIG. 15B will serially appear onthe personal device of the customer. A display 88 confirms that atouchless pickup for enclosure (“BOX”) 16 is enabled. By touching orclicking on that screen showing a button defined by a circle containinga knife and fork, image 90 will appear showing a keypad and instructionsto enter the randomly generated pick-up code which is displayed on thetouch screen of the enclosure (“Box”)16 and was received by SMS in step7 of FIG. 14 . If the customer correctly enters the pick-up code, image92 will appear confirming on the door of the “BOX” 16 as well as the“BOX” 17 containing the customer's order. Image 94 appears if no pick-upcode is displayed on the assigned enclosure (“BOX”) with instructions tocall a staff member. Note that help can also be summoned by touching orclicking on the word “HELP” in the displays 88, 90, and 92 and priordisplays may also be accessed using the “BACK” buttons.

As an alternative to entering the pick-up code on a keypad appearing onthe customer's personal device for touchless opening, touchless openingmay be achieved by the customer by using the SMS in the following way.The customer first goes to the SMS text provided in Step 7 of FIG. 14which contains the pick-up code. The customer then uses the text to openthe door in one of three different ways: (1) the customer can click onthe pick-up code in the received text; (2) the customer can send a replytext containing the pick-up code; or (3) the customer can send a replytext consisting of the word “open”.

Another alternative for touchless opening involves the use of a QR code.A customer-specific QR code is contained in an SMS message received bythe personal device of the customer. The wall 14 is capable of readingthe QR code on the screen of the personal device and then transmitting acustomer specific URL to that device which is unique to the customer.The customer can then open the door and perform other functions such asseeking help by interacting with the display on the screen(s) providedby the URL. This assures that the door will only open when the customeris physically present in the restaurant to scan in their QR code. Inaddition, the URL may be used to access the displays like those shown inFIG. 15 so as to allow the customer to enter a pick-up code delivered bySMS on a keypad so as to provide a double layer of security.

Although touchless ordering and door opening is available, the customermay still choose to order at a kiosk by touching the kiosk screen andopening the door on a food enclosure by touching the screen on the door.A series of ordering steps are shown in FIG. 16 which are performedusing a touch screen at a kiosk. In Step 1, the customer is presentedwith a screen saver. When the customer touches the screen saver, animage is displayed which provides the customer, in Step 2, with theability to create an order by reviewing a menu and selecting menu items.In Step 3, the customer is presented with one or more screen imagespermitting the customer to place an order, pay, provide a pick-up time,provide a contact phone, and then, at the customer's option, enable aprint-out of a receipt which includes the pick-up code. In Step 4, theimage presented at the kiosk includes the pick-up code which is alsodelivered to the customer's contact phone by SMS.

When the customer's order is ready for pick-up from an enclosure, theserial images on touch screen of the enclosure containing the order asshown in FIG. 17 are substantially identical to those on the touchscreen of the enclosure shown in FIG. 15A. However, if a customer ordernumber is used as the customer-specific code and not a randomlygenerated code, display 84A as shown in FIG. 17 will not, for securityreasons, include the customer order.

As in the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 8A-D, the doors ofthe enclosures (or “BOXES”) 18 in the embodiment of the inventiondescribed using FIGS. 14-17 may be set to close automatically apredetermined period of time after opening. Since a customer may not beable to remove all of the items in one or more assigned enclosuresduring this holding period, customers need to be provided with anopportunity to reopen the enclosures. Accordingly, a display will appearon the touch screen of the enclosure door, as well as on the personaldevice of a customer operating in the touchless mode, which can used toreopen the door for another predetermined period time.

The screens of the order control or expediter monitor 48 in thisembodiment of the invention will now be described in detail withreference to FIGS. 18A-F. As in the earlier described embodiment asshown in the displays shown in FIG. 9 , the monitor 48 is under thecontrol of the “Wall Computer” 44 which, in this embodiment, operatesunder stored program instructions so as to allow the expediter tointeract with the screen by clicking or tapping on the screen to performvarious functions and view various displays on the screens which may becolor coded to indicate various conditions as will now be described.

In FIG. 18A, all 20 enclosures in the wall 14 are depicted in thedisplay by numbered squares 100 with enclosure status displays 102immediately below the numbered squares. As shown, the status displayedfor each of the displays 102 indicates that the respective enclosures or“BOXES” are available to receive an order (e.g., “Available”) consistentwith a status summary displayed in the area 104 indicating all “20 BoxesAvailable”. An area 106 above the area 104 is available to display anorder queue which is empty in FIG. 18A which is consistent with an ordersummary displayed in area 108 indicating “No orders in queue”.

The display on the screen as shown in FIG. 18B still shows all “20 BoxesAvailable” but an order queue is now displayed in the area 106. Theorder queue which is chronological by specified pick-up times providesfour pieces of information: (1) a customer name (e.g., “Katie”); (2) acustomer specific order number (e.g., “#222” for “Katie”); (3) a timethat the order was left (e.g., “9:56” for “Katie”); and (4) a time ofpick-up specified (e.g., “10:00” for “Katie”). An area immediately beloweach customer name displays an “ASSIGN” button 109 on which theexpediter can click or tap to initiate an assignment of an order to anenclosure or “Box”.

FIG. 18C illustrates the enclosure or “Box” assignment process using theorder of “Katie” as an example. As shown, there are still 6 orders inthe queue but the “ASSIGN” button 109 shown in FIG. 18B under “Katie”has been clicked or tapped on to initiate the assignment for the orderof “Katie” to enclosures or “Boxes” 1 and 2. Because of the size of the“Katie” order, the expediter has determined that two enclosures or“Boxes” will be required and the expediter has therefore clicked ortapped on two adjacent boxes for the convenience of “Katie”. Of course,a smaller order would only require the selection of one enclosure or“Box”. After the expediter has loaded the “Katie” order into theenclosures or “Boxes” 1 and 2, the expediter can confirm that the orderhas been loaded into the enclosures by clicking or tapping on a“CONFIRM” button 110. This will remove the “Katie” order from the orderqueue in the display of FIGS. 18B&C and show the “Katie” order inenclosures or “Boxes” 1 and 2 in the display of FIG. 18E which showsonly “Chad” remaining in the order queue and then only 18 boxesavailable with the “Katie” order shown in the area 102. In thealternative, the expediter can cancel the enclosure assignment byclicking or tapping on a cancel or “X” button 112 shown in FIG. 18C andthe “Katie” order will return or remain in the order queue as shown inFIG. 18B.

FIGS. 18 D-F show the status of all enclosures or “Boxes” which are notdesignated as “available” so as to provide the expediter with importantinformation in the area 102. For example, the areas 102 for enclosuresor “Boxes” 1 and 2 shown in FIG. 18E display information which indicatesthe order number (i.e., #222) for the “Katie” order has been in theenclosures for 5 minutes after the specified pick-up time. In FIG. 18D,the area 102 for enclosures or “Boxes” 8 and 17 display, by way ofexample, information for the “Maria” order #125 and the Janet order#102. The minus sign indicates that the specified pick-up time for the“Maria” order will not occur for another minute (i.e., the order wasnecessarily placed in the enclosure prior to the specified pick-uptime). In the case of the “Janet” order, 25 minutes have elapsed beyondthe specified pick-up time which exceeds a predetermined limit and thatfact is denoted by displaying the word “Expired”. In order to be surethat the expediter is aware of this expiration and can then remove theorder from the enclosure, the words and numbers may be color coded red.Red color coding may also be used to indicate the number of minutes thathave elapsed since the specified pick-up time even though thepredetermined limit has not been reached as in the case of the “Katie”order. Green color coding may be used for the number of minutes prior tothe specified pick-up time as in the case of the “Maria” order.

Additional displays shown in FIGS. 18 D and F may be used to indicateother types of enclosure or order issues. For example, the expediter maydisable an enclosure as in the case of enclosure #4 as shown in FIG. 18Dby tapping or clicking on the “X” in the display. As shown in FIG. 18F,the area 102 for enclosures #1 and #4 display information indicatingthat the orders in these enclosures liave been picked-up or collected.The information displayed in the area 102 for enclosure #1 indicates“Masha” order“#101” was “Collected”. The displays on the expeditermonitor can also show other conditions encountered with orders whichrequire follow-up. The displayed information shows two such conditionsfor the enclosures #15 and #9 shown in FIG. 18F. The enclosure #15display tells the expediter that “Patrick” has asked for help, a staffmember will need to render assistance, and the expediter can clear thedisplay by tapping on the menu button represented by the asterisks. Theenclosure #9 display tells the expediter that there has been a fooderror in the “Mike” order delivered to the enclosure, that he shouldrecall the order and food delivered to the enclosure and use the menubutton represented by the three asterisks to reset the display.

Each representation of the enclosures or “Boxes” #1 through #20 in thedisplays shown in FIGS. 18A-F includes a menu button represented bythree dots located adjacent the enclosure number. The expediter may tapor click on these menu buttons which will allow the expediter to performvarious functions such as disabling a box or opening the door for acustomer.

A summary of activity in the various enclosures or “Boxes” 100 may beprovided on the screen of the expediter monitor 42. That summary may bedisplayed in areas 114 as shown in shown in FIGS. 18 D-F. With respectto the activity as shown in FIG. 18E, the following summary isdisplayed: “1 order”. With respect to activity as shown in FIG. 18D, thefollowing summary is displayed: “5 orders” and“1 expired”. Although notincluded in the area 114 shown in FIG. 18D, the display could include “1disabled”. With respect to the activity as shown in FIG. 18F, thefollowing summary is displayed in the area 114: “1 request”, “1 error”,“2 collected”, “7 orders”, “2 expired”, “1 disabled”.

In order to handle issues arising with customers as they try to collecttheir food from the enclosures, the displays on the expediter screen asshown in FIGS. 18A-F may be made available to a customer service person.This may be accomplished by providing an APP which may be downloaded toa tablet or other device available for use by the customer serviceperson, where the APP provides the same displays and functionality tothe tablet or other device being used80y the customer service person.

The display on the monitor 28 as shown in FIG. 19 displays informationto customers concerning “ACTIVE ORDERS” or “ORDERS IN PROCESS”. Unlikethe display in FIG. 7 , the display to customers as shown in FIG. 19describes the status of some orders as only “RECEIVED” and the status ofother orders as “COOKING” so as to provide the customer with moreinformation about the progress of their order.

FIGS. 20-22 show three different, dynamic displays which may appear onthe monitor 26 to advise customers that their orders are ready to becollected from one or more assigned enclosures or “BOXES” 18. In FIG. 20, there are only three “READY TO COLLECT” orders so the space dedicatedto each order on the screen of the monitor is large thereby maximizingthe size of each customer's name and the number of the enclosure. Asshown in FIG. 21 , the display must accommodate twenty customer orderswhich are ready to collect so the space available for and the size ofthe customer's name and assigned enclosure are necessarily limited.However, in order to assist a customer with recognizing that their orderis ready to collect, the display shown in FIG. 22 appears on the monitor26 for a few seconds as soon as the order is ready (i.e., “CLAIRE” inenclosure 9) and then reverts to the display shown in FIG. 21 with thecustomer's name being added to the list in FIG. 21 .

FIG. 23 illustrates a series of steps 1-9 representing the interactionbetween touch screens of the kitchen order preparation monitor 46 andcontrol order control monitor 48 (i.e., the “expediter monitor”) shownin FIGS. 9, 10 and 18 (A-F) which are under the control of the ordercomputer 45 and the wall computer 44 shown in FIG. 3 . As shown in FIG.23 , these computers 45 and 44 as well as the digital memory storing thenecessary programmable instructions are depicted by block 116. Steps 1and 2 as shown are directed to the use of interactive displays on thetouch screen of the kitchen order preparation monitor 46 by the kitchenorder preparer to make the orders presented and then signaling when eachorder has been prepared and ready for the expediter to deliver eachorder. Steps 3-10 as shown are directed to the interactive displays ofFIGS. 18A-F which are read, used and/or created by the expediter.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative constructions, only certain illustrative embodiments havebeen shown and described in the drawings and accompanying detaileddescription. It should be understood, however, that there is nointention to limit the invention to the specific construction andembodiments disclosed herein. On the contrary, the invention is intendedto cover all modifications, alternative constructions, embodiments, andequivalents falling within the scope of the invention as claimed herein.

1. A system for automated dispensing of food to customers comprising: anarray of food enclosures for receiving and dispensing food to customers,each food enclosure including (i) a food supply opening for supplyingfood to the enclosure and (ii) a food delivery opening and an automated,movable door for closing the food delivery opening; and a food order andarray management computer system connected to the Internet comprising atleast one digital processor and a digital memory, the digital memorystoring programmed instructions for the digital processor causing (i)orders to be received over the Internet from a customer using a customerpersonal device, (ii) the customer personal device to be enabled toreceive a door-opening instruction input from the customer, and (iii)the movable door to automatically open in a manner so as to expose thefood delivery opening in one of the enclosures containing the order ofthe customer when the customer enters the door-opening instruction onthe customer personal device.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein theprogrammed instructions cause the customer's name and a particularnumber associated with a particular enclosure to be displayed on thepersonal device when the order is in the particular enclosure.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the programmed instructions cause a customerspecific code to transmitted to the personal device and a keypad to bedisplayed on the personal device for entering the customer-specific codeas the door-opening instruction.
 4. The system of claim 3 wherein theprogrammed instructions cause a message to be displayed on the personaldevice indicating that an incorrect customer-specific code has beenentered and enables the customer to enter a correct code on thedisplayed keypad.
 5. The system of claim 4 wherein the programedinstructions cause a display on the personal device to enable thecustomer to confirm that the customer is abandoning code enteringefforts.
 6. The system of claim 1 wherein the programmed instructionscause the door to automatically close a predetermined period of timeafter opening.
 7. The system of claim 6 wherein the programmedinstructions cause a display on the personal device inviting thecustomer to reopen the movable door after the door has closed byreentering the code on a keypad subsequently displayed on the personaldevice.
 8. The system of claim 1 wherein the instruction enteredincludes the customer specific code.
 9. The system of claim 1 whereinthe customer specific code is transmitted to the customer via SMS. 10.The system of claim 9 wherein the instruction entered is received by thecomputer system over the Internet.
 11. The system of claim 10 whereinthe programmed instructions cause a customer specific URL to betransmitted to the customer personal device and the instruction enteredby the customer using the personal device is received by the computersystem via the customer specific URL.
 12. The system of claim 1 whereinthe instruction to open the door is received by the computer system fromthe customer via SMS.
 13. A system for automated dispensing of food tocustomers comprising: an array of food enclosures for receiving anddispensing food to customers, each food enclosure including (i) a foodsupply opening for supplying food to the enclosure and (ii) a fooddelivery opening and an automated, movable door comprising a digitaldisplay screen closing the food delivery opening; and a food order andarray management computer system comprising at least one digitalprocessor and a digital memory associated with the digital processor, afood order preparation monitor and a food order delivery monitorphysically accessible to the food supply opening of each food enclosure,the digital memory storing programmed instructions causing a display onthe food order preparation monitor of a backlog of orders received fromcustomers including food items in each of the orders, a display on thefood order delivery monitor of prepared food orders which have beenremoved from the backlog of orders including a customer name associatedwith each of the prepared food orders and a representation of each ofthe enclosures in the array, a display of food order assignments on thefood order delivery monitor assigning each of the prepared food ordersto one of the enclosures, a display on the display screen of the movabledoor of an enclosure receiving a food order including the customer nameassociated with the food order after the food order has been deliveredto the assigned enclosure through the food supply opening, and openingthe movable door in response to a customer input to the managementcomputer system.
 14. The system of claim 13 wherein the programmedinstructions cause the assigning of each of the prepared food ordersincluding assigning a number corresponding to one or more particularfood enclosures and the display of the number on the food deliverymonitor.
 15. The system of claim 14 wherein the programmed instructionscause the number to be displayed on the display screen on the movabledoor of the enclosure.
 16. The system of claim 13 further comprising acustomer ordering subsystem wherein the programmed instructions causethe food order of a customer to be displayed on the food orderpreparation monitor.
 17. The system of claim 13 further comprising afood order status monitor and a food order delivery alert monitoradjacent the enclosures in the array wherein the programmed instructionscause a display on the food order status monitor when a food order is inpreparation and cause a display on the food delivery alert monitor whena food order has been delivered to an enclosure.
 18. The system of 13wherein the programmed instructions provide for a food order to beassigned to a particular enclosure by assigning the food order to adisplayed representation of one of the enclosures in the array on thefood delivery monitor.
 19. The system of claim 18 wherein the programmedinstructions provide for an assignment of a food order to be removedfrom the representation of the one of the enclosures on the fooddelivery monitor when the food order has been removed from an enclosure.20. The system of claim 13 wherein the programmed instructions cause adisplay of the current status of each enclosure in the array on the fooddelivery monitor including indicia representing (a) currentavailability, (b) currently in use, (c) no longer in use afterexpiration of the predetermined period of time, and (d) ready to becleared after a prolonged period of time without the door opening. 21.The system of claim 20 wherein the display of the current status of eachenclosure in the array includes a representation of each enclosure inthe array and each of the indicia are represented by a different colorcoding of the representation of each enclosure.
 22. The system of claim13 wherein the programed instructions cause the illumination ofperipheral portions of the display screen on the movable door of eachenclosure while simultaneously displaying a name for the customer. 23.The system of claim 22 wherein the programmed instructions cause theillumination of the peripheral portions of adjacent display screenswhile simultaneously displaying the customer name on at least one of theadjacent display screens.
 24. The system of claim 13 wherein theprogrammed instructions cause a queue of food orders to be displayed onthe food delivery monitor, each of the orders in the displayed queueincluding a customer name associated with each of the prepared foodorders and a pick-up time for each of the orders.
 25. The system ofclaim 24 wherein the programmed instructions cause the displayed queueto include an order number for each of the orders.
 26. The system ofclaim 25 wherein the programmed instructions cause the displayed queueto include the name of the customer and a difference in time between aproposed pick-up time and the actual time.
 27. The system of claim 26wherein the programmed instructions cause an alert to be displayed onthe food delivery monitor that the difference between the proposedpick-up time and the actual time has exceeded a predetermined limit. 28.A method for automated dispensing of food to customers using an array offood enclosures for receiving and dispensing food to customers, eachfood enclosure including a food supply opening and a food deliveryopening having an automated, movable door comprising a digital touchscreen closing the food delivery opening, a food order preparationmonitor, a food order delivery monitor, and a food order and arraymanagement computer system comprising at least one digital processor anda digital memory associated with the digital processor, the digitalmemory storing programmed instructions for performing the followingsteps: displaying on the food order preparation monitor a backlog oforders transmitted from customers including food items in each of theorders; displaying on the food order delivery monitor a queue ofprepared food orders which have been removed from the backlog of orderswhere each of the orders in the queue includes a customer nameassociated with each of the preparation orders and a pick-up time forthe orders, and displaying a representation of each of the enclosuresand food orders previously delivered to the various enclosures.
 29. Themethod of claim 28 wherein the step of displaying the queue includesdisplaying an order number for each order in the queue.
 30. The methodof claim 29 wherein the step of displaying the representation of each ofthe enclosures includes displaying the name of the customer and adifference in time between the proposed pick-up time and the actualtime.
 31. The method of claim 30 wherein the step of displaying therepresentation includes displaying an alert that the difference betweenthe proposed pick-up time and the actual time has exceeded apredetermined limit.
 32. The method of claim 28 wherein the step ofdisplaying the representation includes displaying an order number. 33.The method of claim 28 including the step of displaying that aparticular order displayed in the queue has been selected for andassigned to a particular enclosure in the displayed representation. 34.A method for automated dispensing of food to customers comprising:providing an array of food delivery enclosures for delivering food froma food supply area to customers, each of the enclosures having (i) afood supply opening accessible to the food supply area and a movableclosure for closing the food supply opening and (ii) a food deliveryopening accessible by a customer and an automated, movable doorcomprising a digital touch screen closing the food delivery opening;providing a computer system comprising at least one digital processorand a digital memory associated with the digital processor, the digitalmemory storing programmed instructions for the digital processor, thecomputer system including a customer ordering and billing subsystemreceiving and billing different food orders from different customersusing personal devices; receiving a food order from a customer over theInternet using a personal device; transmitting an SMS text to thecustomer using the personal device confirming the food order andproviding instructions enabling opening of the movable door on theenclosure receiving the food order of the customer; receiving an SMStext from the customer personal device to enable the opening of themovable door of the enclosure receiving the food order of the customer;and automatically opening the movable door in response to the SMS textreceived from the customer.
 35. The method of claim 34 including thestep of closing the movable door after a predetermined period of timeand reopening the movable door in response to another SMS text from thecustomer personal device.
 36. A method for automated dispensing of foodto customers comprising: providing an array of food delivery enclosuresfor delivering food from a food supply area to customers, each of theenclosures having (i) a food supply opening accessible to the foodsupply and (ii) a food delivery opening accessible by a customer and anautomated, movable door comprising a digital touch screen closing thefood delivery opening; providing a computer system comprising at leastone digital processor and a digital memory associated with the digitalprocessor, the digital memory storing programmed instructions for thedigital processor, the computer system including a customer ordering andbilling subsystem receiving and billing different food orders fromdifferent customers using personal devices; receiving a food order froma customer using a customer personal device; transmitting to thecustomer personal device door opening instructions enabling opening ofthe movable door on the enclosure receiving the food order of thecustomer; receiving door opening instructions entered by the customer onthe customer personal device to enable the opening of the movable doorof the enclosure receiving the food order of the customer; andautomatically opening the movable door in response to the door openinginstructions received from the customer personal device.
 37. The methodof claim 36 wherein the name of the customer and a particular numberassociated with a particular enclosure is transmitted to the customerpersonal device for display on the customer personal device when theorder is in the particular enclosure.
 38. The method of claim 36 whereinthe door opening instructions comprise a code.
 39. The method of claim38 wherein the code is transmitted and received via SMS.
 40. The methodof claim 38 wherein the customer personal device is enabled to display akeyboard for use in entering the code.
 41. The method of claim 38wherein a message is transmitted to the customer for display on thecustomer personal device indicating that an incorrect code has beenentered so as to enable the customer to enter the correct code.
 42. Themethod of claim 38 wherein the code is transmitted and received over theInternet.
 43. The method of claim 36 wherein a customer specific URL istransmitted to the customer personal device so as to enable the customerthe customer to use the URL when entering door opening instructions. 44.The method of claim 36 wherein the door opening instructions arereceived from the customer via SMS.
 45. The method of claim 44 whereinthe door opening instructions are transmitted to the customer personaldevice via SMS.
 46. The method of claim 36 wherein the door isautomatically closed a predetermined time after opening.